Washington must regain its strategic focus. Yet this strategy leaves room for China to prosper in peace, so long as it does not achieve a decisive advantage. Xi is pursuing this as a means of fulfilling the ‘China Dream’ and ‘winning without fighting’. These measures will not meet every contingency, but they will help restore the strategic focus Washington and the US-Australia alliance need. The US needs to regain a focus that has been lost amid disruption and uncertainty.